


a prison cell with no lock to pick

by ThePrettyTomboy



Series: Catradora Week [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coma, F/F, Tumblr: Catradora Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 03:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePrettyTomboy/pseuds/ThePrettyTomboy
Summary: The official story was that she was cut down during the siege on Thaymor. That she’d been in a coma for the past month. That it was a miracle she survived.Written for Catradora Week day one, the Horde/Rebellion.





	a prison cell with no lock to pick

The official story was that she was cut down during the siege on Thaymor. That she’d been in a coma for the past month. That it was a miracle she survived.

“You will watch her,” Shadow Weaver said as a robot carted Adora out of her chambers on a gurney, “and you will tell her exactly what happened when she wakes up.”

Catra scoffed. “We’re not exactly on the best terms these days.” Her tail stiffened and her hair stood up on end as deep shadows, darker than the deepest recesses of the Whispering Woods, gathered around her. Painful wisps of black energy poked and prodded her skin. Catra rolled her eyes and pulled away. “Whatever.” She turned on her heel and sulked after the robot. They came to a stop in her own room in the Force Captain barracks, and Catra sneered. _Adora’s_ new room.

The robot carefully transferred Adora’s unconscious form to the four-poster bed, indicator lights flashing as it processed the series of movements required to complete its task. Once Adora was settled on her mattress, it beeped twice and whizzed past Catra, one wheel barely missing her tail as it zipped out the door.

Catra hissed after the thing, then turned her ire to Adora. After everything she had done to capture her former squadmate, her former _friend_ , this was the thanks she got: kicked out of her own quarters and assigned to guard duty not befitting even Kyle. In the moment, Catra wished that Adora would never wake up.  
  


* * *

   
A full day passed.

Then a week.

Then two.

Adora’s eyes didn’t even flutter when Catra started screaming out of boredom, her breath didn’t catch when Catra threw her chair across the room and smashed it against the wall, her muscles didn’t tense when Catra shook her by the shoulders. The monitors that surrounded her beeped steadily, but still, she didn’t wake.

Fury boiled in Catra’s chest. Even with her consciousness buried deep inside her head, Adora found a way to be a nuisance, a way to be the most important person in the room. Catra stood tall and defiant against Shadow Weaver’s daily visits, never betraying her ever-diminishing fear of the woman who reluctantly raised her.

Shadow Weaver leaned over the bed where Adora rested, peaceful as ever in her magical slumber. She shot a glare across the room to where Catra leaned against the wall. “You will not leave this room until she wakes up.”

“I don’t exactly have any control over her,” Catra said, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

“Of course you don’t. You barely have control over your own life.” Shadow Weaver reached out with her magic and froze Catra in place with buzzing red electricity. “But just know, if you have _anything_ to do with Adora’s continuing sleep, I will dispose of you myself. Do you understand?”

There was nothing unfamiliar about the scene except the lack of fear in Catra’s veins. She fought against the paralyzing magic and bore her teeth and claws.

Only later, when Shadow Weaver was long gone, did Catra worry that the sheer force of her anger might have willed Adora into her coma in the first place.  
  


* * *

  
After a month, the Rebellion came.

The full force of their army, inspired by the princess of Bright Moon to return for their queen, raged against the Horde. The last time Catra bothered to look outside of Adora’s window, it looked like the Rebellion might actually be winning. It didn’t matter either way.

Catra sat on the edge of the mattress and stared at Adora’s unmoving face. She regretted every curse she’d ever thought in Adora’s direction, regretted every snide word and every sneer. One month ago she had held Adora in her arms, spun her around a dance floor and taunted her as if they had an eternity together. Catra missed the days they spent swinging from the pipes on the ceiling, the days they spent besting each other’s times in training missions. The nights they spent sharing the bottom bunk, curled around each other for warmth.

For the first time since she was assigned to monitor Adora, Catra wished desperately that she would wake up, if only so she had a chance to say goodbye before the Rebellion overwhelmed the barracks.

Several things happened at once.

The door across the room slid open, revealing a haggard Glimmer and Bow.

The window shattered inward with the force of an explosion on a lower level of the barracks.

The monitors’ steady beeping ran together into a piercing shriek as the nodes were knocked off of Adora's arms.

Catra leapt to Adora’s defense, claws out, but a ball of sparkling pink energy caught her by the chin and knocked her across the room. She struggled to her feet as Glimmer rushed to Adora’s side. “Leave her alone.”

Bow trained an arrow on Catra. “Don’t move.”

“Adora!” Glimmer pressed her hands to either of her friend’s cheeks. “Wake up!”

The sliding door melted down to the ground and two sentry bots squeezed through the hole, firing lasers all throughout the room. One missed Adora’s head by a breath, another melted through Bow’s weapon, leaving him holding molten metal.

There was no choice to make. Catra tore through the robots, left them sparking heaps of scrap metal on the ground. She turned to Glimmer and Bow, claws still out and ready to strike at the slightest provocation. “Let’s get her out of here.”  
  


* * *

  
There was no official story because there was no way to know what Adora would remember when she woke up.

Catra paced the opalescent room, insistent that she be Adora’s guard. She glared at Glimmer, who sat in the corner and kept a watchful eye on her. Nobody in the city trusted Catra, least of all Glimmer, but her role in rescuing their precious She-Ra from the Fright Zone was enough to grant her heavily-supervised access to Adora. It didn’t matter what they thought, anyway.

Catra would be there to tell Adora exactly what happened when she woke up.


End file.
